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Women today have more rights and more freedom than they have throughout history. But do women today really have the option to have a career? Or should they simply be a house wife and bring up children? Do they have a real choice between the two or does society pressure them to drop out of work when they have a child?

As a young woman entering the world of work after university, whilst being in a long term relationship, I have started to think about whether I will have to chose and if having a career is really an option when I also want to have a family of my own in the future. It occurred to me that any career I try to build for myself could be short lived if life takes over. There is a lot of pressure in the media for a successful woman to have both a successful career as well as being an attentive wife and mother.

It could be argued that women do have a choice between a career and a family. I could choose to hire a nanny to care for my children whilst I carry one climbing the career ladder.
On the other hand I may choose to leave my job and become a full time homemaker leaving my grateful husband as sole breadwinner. In today's world of high divorce rates and more transient relationships, is this idyllic view of marriage realistic? It may happen for the lucky few who want it, but what about the rest of us?

There are many single mothers out there, who have had to manage a family and career without the help of a husband. Many end up in dead-end jobs that allow them to work around school opening times. I don't believe women have a choice any more. We have to have careers to support ourselves in case the worse happens.
Even if you do get lucky and have the fairy tale ending, it is quite rare for women to be able to retain a job once they do have a family. There are many pressures on a woman to stay at home and care for her children.

On the surface women do have a perceived' choice and opportunities in many diverse careers. We can argue that we have chosen a career over family or vice versa. However, once a woman has a family there is no real choice left. Very few men would be willing to give up their career and look after their family. It is a very difficult situation for society to move away from, as it has been proven that this division of labour, a working husband and wife as a fulltime homemaker, has had many successes. It is almost impossible to reinvent the wheel.

Learn more about this author, Rachel Gargan.
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